New to meat birds..space ??

[ashleylivingsto]

So I'd like to start this off by saying this is my first time doing meat birds. We got the Cornish cross I believe and we did 50. Last year wee did it with friends and they had them at there house and lost 17..I figured I'd give it a try...I still have 50 and they are 14 days old...doing pretty good I think?. My question. How much room should they have nowon, I have photos of my current setup. We have a barn aND a coop but aren't going to put them out until Monday. As I was told they need to be inside Atleast 4 weeks, because of the heat. So how much room should they have.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Where are you located? Do you mean "because of the heat" needed when they are young? I'm in Northern Vermont and am putting chicks out at 3 weeks old now. Have a group of cockerels that have been outside since Friday and loving it. They only had wing feathers and some starting on shoulders but the weather has definitely broken into full summer now and they are perfectly fine. The first two weeks they are very heat dependent but do quite well there after. Heck, yesterday hit 80 F here so had garage door open and lamp for brooder turned off. Forgot all about it until giving food and water this morning. Those week old chicks were not even huddled together. Garage got down to 60 F by this morning.

All I can say for space with meat birds is get a chest freezer. I'd think you'd want minimum 150 sqft for them to exercise enough for health but personally have not done ConishX. We do dual purpose here, have a lot of cockerels growing, and will be searching craigslist for a good used freezer this summer. It will be my own freezer and others in house will have to keep their stuff out. Need the space open for birds over summer and fall and then bee hive frames after the honey is spun out. When I need the freezer space any boxes of popsicles or whatnot in the way will uncerimonially be tossed. They've been warned.

 

[ashleylivingsto]

I'm in northern new hampshire. It has been getting a bit chilly at night so I haven't put them outside yet. They are really starting to outgrown there current space and I wasn't sure if I could just shut the light off and they would be fine. There currently in my livingroom and it's 71 inside most times so I think maybe I'll shut the light off and give it a go. I'm going to put them out Monday I think. Thank you for responding. Guess I just needed some reassurance that I was doing okay

 

[scottygvsu]

50 out of 50 is great! Go ahead and put them out. I put 30 out last year at 3 weeks and we had frost the first 4 days in a row. They huddled up but were no worse for wear. My tractor is 10x10 with cover over half the top and one whole side. Id put 50 in my 10x10, they don't use that much space. On cold evenings I set the covered side into the wind to cut the draft. On hot days I put the covered half to the south for the most shade and allow the breeze in the tractor. I firmly believe that too much heat will kill a chicken faster than the cold. (Extreme situations aside)